Compromise in Georgia

President agrees to new election date

November 09, 2007|By Alex Rodriguez, Tribune foreign correspondent

MOSCOW — A day after police used truncheons and tear gas to disperse legions of demonstrators, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili sought to defuse his country's worst crisis since its bloodless 2003 Rose Revolution by announcing he would move up presidential elections in the former Soviet Republic.

The U.S.-educated Saakashvili, seen as a pro-West democratic reformer who has defied the influence of his country's powerful neighbor, Russia, shocked Georgians and the international community Wednesday when he decided to crack down on marchers demonstrating against him. He also shut down two independent television stations and imposed a nationwide state of emergency.

The new elections will be held Jan. 5, effectively reducing Saakashvili's term in office by a year, but he said he wants to seek a new mandate from the Georgian people after the protests and crackdown. He also set Jan. 5 as the date for a referendum that will ask voters when elections for parliament should be held.

"The essence of my compromise is that we give the opposition a chance to be elected by the people, if it is a force of any standing," Saakashvili said in a televised address to the nation Thursday.

"I, as the country's leader, want to be provided with a clear mandate if I am to counteract all external threats, all pressure and annexation threats." Saakashvili appeared to be referring to Russia, which he has accused of meddling in Georgian affairs.

The streets of Tbilisi were calm Thursday, with hundreds of soldiers patrolling with rubber clubs.

Wednesday's crackdown, which Saakashvili justified with allegations that Russian agents were collaborating with the opposition to stage a coup, drew stiff criticism from U.S. and European leaders, who have been trying to further integrate his nation with the West.

His decision to call early elections came after particularly harsh criticism from NATO leaders. Georgia is pursuing membership in the Western military alliance and was hoping that NATO officials would officially declare the former Soviet republic a candidate for membership when the alliance holds a summit in Bucharest, Romania, next April.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the imposition of emergency rule and the closing of media outlets in Georgia are "not in line with Euro-Atlantic values." He said NATO had been locked in "intensified dialogue" with the Georgians.

White House concerned

Bush administration officials also expressed concern, calling the crackdown a "disappointment" and asking the government and opposition to refrain from further violence.

"We believe Georgia is approaching a serious human-rights crisis," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin. "The footage [of the crackdown that] the whole world saw from Tbilisi vividly shows what Georgian-style democracy is. It is the harsh, forceful dispersal of peaceful demonstrations, the closure of free media, the beating of foreign journalists."

By setting the new presidential election date as Jan. 5, Saakashvili acquiesced to the demands made by opposition leaders who had mounted six days of protests against his leadership, mainly because of his perceived failure to deliver on promises of improving Georgians' standard of living when he toppled former President Eduard Shevardnadze four years ago.

Opposition leaders had wanted the parliamentary elections in April rather than in autumn 2008, when legislative and presidential elections were scheduled. They welcomed the idea of the referendum in January.

"We have our victory, and in the best possible terms," said Tina Khidasheli, an opposition leader from Georgia's Republican Party, who doubted Saakashvili could recover politically from the crisis. "Anyone who uses violence against the Georgian people is gone. They're forgotten. It's not just his political career that's over. He's history."

Khidasheli said opposition leaders are discussing who they will select as their candidate to run against Saakashvili and probably will announce that choice this month.

On Wednesday, riot police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse thousands of demonstrators who had gathered in front of the country's parliament building for a sixth day of protests against Saakashvili's administration. According to witness reports, police beat many of the fleeing demonstrators with truncheons.

On Thursday, Russian television broadcast images of hundreds of Georgian troops deploying on the main thoroughfares of the nation's capital, Tbilisi. Before the president's announcement, opposition leaders had said they would abide by the prohibition on new demonstrations. With the situation in the country stabilizing, Saakashvili said the state of emergency probably would be lifted within days.

Coup evidence alleged

Saakashvili administration officials said they would back up their allegations of a coup plot with evidence in coming days.

The Georgian government announced Wednesday that they would expel three Russian diplomats from Tbilisi, a move Russia answered Thursday by expelling three Georgian diplomats from Moscow.

By moving quickly to quell the country's latest crisis, Saakashvili hopes to cast himself as a leader prepared to put the country's stability ahead of his political career.

"Our steps are not aimed at saving the government," Saakashvili told the nation in his televised address. "Let everyone know that we are protecting the state and order. That is what our actions yesterday were aimed at when we introduced the state of emergency."